5 Tips for Traveling Plant-based

Those living a plant-based lifestyle will agree it’s easiest when meals are cooked in our own well-stocked kitchens. However, as you start gearing up for exciting summer travel, being able to think outside of the box is the golden ticket for eating plant-based with ease wherever your destination takes you!

Here are 5 tips and tricks to fully prepare and prevent you from stressing over food while getting ready to travel to your exciting destination.

1. Do your research

Before you leave, do a search of vegan-friendly restaurants, health food stores, and local farmer’s markets at your destination place. Some sites to checkout include: Happy Cow, Veg Guide, Local Harvest, local veg Facebook groups and local vegan society/meet-up in the area.

2. Pack staples and emergency food

It’s the everyday things you don’t think about that you’ll miss, so take time to pack these goodies, such as tea bags, oatmeal, nuts, seeds, dried fruits, nut butters, non-refrigerator-ready hummus packs, protein powders and electrolyte packs. Also, check out this DYI Superfood Hippie Cereal. Veestro can also help you travel light–throw the Kale and Quinoa Salad or the Roasted Beet and Kale Salad in your travel bag. By the time you eat it, it will be room temp and ready to rock.

3. Get creative in your hotel

You don’t need a hotel room fully equipped with a kitchenette to make meals. For example, to make oatmeal without bowls – use a paper coffee cup instead. No microwave? Heat up some water in the coffee maker. This also works great on airplanes-just ask for a cup of hot water.

4. Go ethnic when eating out

If you’re struggling to find vegan options, consider dining in Asian, Indian, or Mexican restaurants. Most of these will have some options that don’t contain animal products. Get comfortable scanning the menu for ingredients and look at the side items. If you’re with a group of people heading to a steakhouse, a plain baked potato with salsa and a side salad with extra avocado will make a healthy and satisfying meal.

5. Take notes

If you’re traveling abroad, it can be quite stressful when trying to communicate to your server what ‘no dairy’ means. Consider learning beforehand what the words for ‘meat’, ‘eggs’, ‘milk’, ‘butter’, etc. are in the language of your host country. There’s also an app called V Cards: Vegan Abroad and a very handy book called Vegan Passport that you can bring along to show whoever is making your food.